Apocalypse, slightly later [February 20, 1964]

[hajimenoippolit.livejournal.com]

Tests. More tests.

The blood did exactly as it was told and gave up few answers.

Rakitin had conjectured that the poison would prove to be something similar to arsenic, and was almost immediately proved wrong. It was arsenic, and at an astonishing concentration. If Lynx had been one moment later...

It didn't bear thinking about. A world without the Colonel in it would be a small, drab place.

That was not the problem.

There was another agent present in the mixture, something lurking and insidious hiding beneath the first layer of deadly intent. Hideous.

Finding it was the first step. Now all Rakitin needed was a name.

That was proving to be the tricky part.

The poisoner could have been measuring out components even as the Colonel was inviting Ippolit to stay.

Rakitin would find it. It was a matter of time.

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[heartofthunder.livejournal.com]

"Nonsense," Volgin murmured. "There's nothing to forgive. Lightning strikes where it wants."

He gave a small laugh, a slight shrug of his shoulders, but even that tiny motion cost him.

Volgin frowned as he felt once more newly exhausted, unable to hold his eyes open.

"And...you know I don't mind...a little agony...now and then."

In spite of the darkness that threatened to overtake him, Volgin felt pleased to be reminded of what he and Alexei had once shared together, glad for the fact his power hadn't tried to steal their intimacy from Alexei's memory.

No, Alyosha seemed to remember everything just fine, now.

"Mmm...you know I'll hold you to each and every promise," he whispered, smiling again as he thought of the consequences to come. Alexei knew how to own him, how to break and then remold him. He knew how to dole out exquisite pain, knew how to touch Volgin everywhere he liked. And more than that, Alexei did it all with absolute skill and confidence.

But event the promise of what was to come wasn't quite enough to let Volgin stave off weakness.

"And I'll be better soon, Alyosha."

His lips twitched, even as his eyes drooped shut.

"Trust me."

[snow-death.livejournal.com]

"I do," said Alexei, more for his own benefit, as Volgin had already drifted into an involuntary sleep.

That was good. The body was insisting it needed to go offline to heal, despite the great man's wishes. Even Volgin couldn't oppose his own massive temple.

Lynx leaned over, slipping his hand gently away from Volgin's, pressing his stoic lips lingeringly against the heavily bossed brow.

He could feel the rise of scar tissue beneath, and it gave him a soft thrill.

Drawing back, he regarded the mountainous man, incongruous and unconscious beneath his hospital sheet.

"Sleep well, Zhenya. Be strong."

He stood up just as the attending nurse came in.

It was the younger one, the night nurse. The one he'd come to think of as Svetlana of the seals.

"Oh," she said, her mouth forming a perfect sphere of surprise. "I was just about to tell Major Ocelot that visiting hours were over- where did you come from?"

"Everywhere and nowhere," said Lynx, giving her a brief wink. "I was just leaving."

The young nurse paused, then beckoned him into the outside ward.

Lynx followed, sparing one wistful backward glance at Yevgeny, now slumbering like a mountain giant. The expression of weary anguish on his face pained Alexei somewhere murderous and primal.

He longed to break Lemsky's neck with his hands, very slowly, so that he would hear the give and strain of the bone.

But no. Lemsky could not turn up dead like that on his watch. There would be no explaining it to Aryol or...

As he closed the door behind him, he raised his eyes to the young nurse, who had gone back to her desk, and was rolling bandages industriously.

"He seems stable," Lynx remarked evenly, in case she wanted to contradict him.

Svetlana frowned.

"He is," she said, "For the moment. I mean, the arsenic responded fabulously to chelation," she gushed. "Textbook. It helped that it was given along with vast amounts of sugar-that actually nullifies a great deal of the effect! They say that's why Rasputin was able to survive such massive doses of arsenic. It was given to him in desserts and sweet wine. Isn't that something?"

"Yes," said Lynx, frowning. It was.

"Clearly your poisoner is not a student of history," she said, cheerfully.

"Clearly," Lynx echoed, his jaw tightening at the thought of Lemsky.

"Or..." she paused, looking down, sobering abruptly and making him frown.

"What?" he demanded, stepping forward slowly.

"Well," she said, uneasily. "There was evidence of a second compound, possibly a biotoxin. The arsenic...might have been to distract our efforts while the real poison does its damage."

She paused.

"Normally we would think someone who administered arsenic with sugar was an amateur, and that the presence of another poison was just that amateur throwing things against the wall and hoping they'll stick. But...if this was a sophisticated attempt, it might be a cover for the real threat, and whoever dosed the Colonel might have known and anticipated that sugar counteracts arsenic. And known that it didn't matter."

She trailed off.

Alexei felt alarm rising.

Lemsky didn't make mistakes like that.

Not unless he had a reason.

"You don't know what this other toxin is?" he demanded, eyes narrowing.

Svetlana shook her head dolefully, looking up at him.

"The pathologist took blood samples with him this morning. He's working on identifying it, so that he can formulate an antidote."

Lynx paused.

Rakitin. That was good. The man seemed competent and devoted to cause.

"Let me see if I can make his job a little easier," he muttered, under his breath.

Alexei did not hesitate. He turned and pushed past the swinging doors, leaving poor Svetlana bewildered.

"Goodbye," she called, uncertainly in his wake.

Lynx didn't hear her. His body was already well down the hall, and his mind was further still, back up in the mountains, in their quiet retreat, where no one would hear Lemsky's screams if he refused to divulge his methods.

Alexei hit his Codec and buzzed Leshovik.

"I'm coming home," he said. "That prick Lemsky had better be there."

Then he clicked off, setting his jaw and leaving the gates of Groznyj Grad behind.